Paradigm Shift
by Dark Ride
Summary: Marinette comes to a startling realization while rereading a beloved childhood novel and has to reevaluate a lot of things in her life. She also takes literary comparisons too far. Ladynoir, Adrinette, identity reveal. Secret Santa fic.


Written for Miraculous Secret Santa 2017, for starsorts. Inspired by my own reread of the series mentioned within (one of my faves since I was about ten or so).

* * *

The epiphany struck just as Marinette was finishing her literature homework. It was no hardship to reread Anne of the Green Gables series but when she came upon the part where Anne met her supposed Prince Charming, she almost chucked the book across the room in shock.

 _Anne put up her umbrella and hurried down the slope. As she turned out on the harbor road a savage gust of wind tore along it. Instantly her umbrella turned wrong side out. Anne clutched at it in despair. And then - there came a voice close to her:_

 _"Pardon me - may I offer you the shelter of my umbrella?"_

 _Anne looked up. Tall and handsome and distinguished-looking - dark, melancholy, inscrutable eyes - melting, musical, sympathetic voice - yes, the very hero of her dreams stood before her in the flesh. He could not have more closely resembled her ideal if he had been made to order._

"She fell for him because he gave her an umbrella," Marinette whimpered. Tikki flew over from her perch on one of the potted flowers and peered at Marinette in curiousity.

"What do you mean?"

"Anne. She fell for Roy after they met in the rain and her umbrella broke and he shared his and he was kind and perfect and they laughed together and they were in the same year at college-"

Tikki spoke up quickly when Marinette took a breath to continue ranting.

"So it's like you and Adrien?"

Marinette let out something that was a cross between a moan and a howl.

"No, we can't be like that. Anne doesn't end up with Roy! He's a red herring. He's there to show how dreams and reality differ and how what we want and what we need are not the same thing at all."

Tikki had the grace to look sympathetic.

"It's only a book," she said. "I'm sure the man Anne ended up with has a lot of similarities with Adrien, too."

Marinette didn't look consoled, if anything, she looked even more wretched.

"She marries Gilbert. He's been her best friend for years, loving her from afar, never really pushing but because it wasn't some huge, sudden, passionate love like in the books, Anne dismissed him. Rejected him. Took him for granted until he almost died!" Marinette ended her sentence with a wail.

Tikki couldn't help it. She giggled.

"So it's like you and Chat Noir?"

Marinette glared at her and then she glared at the book. When it continued lying there innocently, she let out a groan and dropped her head on the table with a resounding 'thunk'.

"I can't be in love with Chat, I'm in love with Adrien," she said weakly. Tikki patted her on the head.

"The book says otherwise."

"Not helping, Tikki."

"Would it be so bad, to be in love with Chat and not Adrien?"

Marinette sighed. No, it wouldn't be so bad and that was the problem. She liked having some certainties in her life. Being in love with Adrien was one of those. And she did love him, it wasn't just some fantasy of hers - imaginary kids and hamster notwithstanding. Roy in the book was a fantasy - a pretty cover but dull and empty inside. Adrien was far from dull. He was real. But so was Chat.

Chat, who was just as kind as Adrien. Chat, who had been there for her since day one. Chat, whose flirtations with her were always tinged with sincerity. Chat, who could always make her laugh. Who always had her back, no matter the situation.

Adrien was the safe choice. The good and polite boy from the less crazy part of her life. The one who would provide her with normalcy and stability and the most ordinary and conventional teenage romance possible.

Chat was the exciting choice. The boy with a mask and an air of mystery who understood the whole double life thing like no one else could. The one who would provide her with the excitement, understanding and the most whirlwind, pun-filled teenage romance possible.

And she loved them both.

Marinette raised her head to look at Tikki.

"I'm in love with Chat, Tikki," she said, voicing aloud the thought she had been denying for some time now. Tikki smiled at her.

"What are you going to do about it?"

* * *

It took a week. A week full of inner struggle, of going back and forth, making mental lists of pros and cons, of deep soul searching and facing up to some truths Marinette had been unaware of before. But she was ready. Ready to make her decision, to draw a curtain on a part of her life and to move on to something new.

The first step?

A closure.

* * *

"Here!"

Marinette knew she didn't look her best - frizzled hair, red cheeks and anxious eyes - but she had spent the past few minutes psyching herself up for this and she wasn't going to back out at the last moment. Still, letting go of your first love was not easy and she felt glad she chose to do it in the indirect way instead of trying to do it verbally.

"Marinette?" Adrien looked at the letter she was offering him with both hands. He looked uncomfortable with something and in a sudden flash of insight, Marinette realized what the scene had to look like to an outsider.

"It's not what you think, I'm not confessing, not really, just... Read this, it explains everything."

He hesitantly reached out and took the letter from her and she took the opportunity to disappear as fast as she could. They had a long weekend coming up so she wouldn't have to face Adrien until a couple of days later. By then, the awkwardness might wear off. Or at least that was what Marinette hoped.

* * *

When Ladybug reached the meeting spot, Chat Noir was already there. It wasn't an unusual situation. What was unusual was the fact that he didn't seem to notice her presence. He was staring down at some piece of paper with a thoughtful frown.

"Chat?" she called out and he visibly startled, emitting some sort of a squeak even as his cat ears flattened against his head, his tail shot straight up and his back arched. It was such a cat thing to do that Ladybug had to giggle at it. Ever since she came to terms with her feelings for him, she was finding a lot of his actions adorable. "Don't tell me you're a scaredy cat," she teased.

"Of course not," he said defensively. "You just surprised me, My Lady, that's all."

"What has you so distracted, I wonder," she said as she walked over to sit next to him. Their patrols were evenly split between doing a quick run of the city - more for the visibility and reassurance of the citizens than anything else - and a quieter part where they would discuss anything from the latest Akuma through theories on Hawkmoth to vague personal stuff. Ladybug was hoping to use this part of the patrol to sound out Chat on his feelings for her and if things went well, maybe even confessing. Having chosen him, she didn't want to waste any time at all.

"It's something weird that happened to my civilian self," Chat said and glanced down at the paper again. "I think I was dumped-" Ladybug almost forgot to breathe. Chat had been dating someone? Did that mean she had been wrong? He didn't have any feelings for her and she had been about to make a fool- "-even though I wasn't dating anyone," he finished and a profound sense of relief swamped over her. Following that came the thought that this was a perfect chance to sound him out on his feelings for her and she seized it.

"How would that even work?" she asked as casually as possible. Chat shrugged.

"I have this friend, she's really amazing. Sweet and kind and smart, everyone loves her." Ladybug firmly pushed her jealousy down. This wasn't the right time and place. "She was always awkward around me but we didn't have the best introduction so I thought that was the reason. Except it turned out she had a crush on me."

Ladybug could relate to that unknown girl. She, too, had been awkward around her crush and probably would be for a while yet, even if for a different reason.

"And?" she prompted when Chat went quiet.

"She gave me a confession letter," he said, waving the paper in his hand. "But there wasn't just a confession. She also wrote that she liked someone else, too and that she was choosing him and she hoped we could still be friends, especially now that she'd be hopefully less awkward around me. It's just so confusing. I didn't even get a chance to decide anything myself. She just said that this is how it's going to be and it's not fair."

Ladybug had gone rigid around the time Chat had mentioned a confession letter and hearing him paraphrase the words she was intimately familiar with - having spent several agonizing hours trying to word things just right - had sent her mind into a spiral of disbelief and denial. What were the chances? No, there must have been some mistake, surely.

"This letter," she started quietly in a tight voice. "She gave it to you in person?"

"Uhm, yes, she caught me after school and gave it to me, saying it wasn't what I thought it was. Heh," he laughed deprecatingly. "She was right about it."

"May I see it?" she asked next and Chat's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"It's just... you don't like doing things that could jeopardize our identities."

"I have a good reason," she said grimly and Chat carefully folded the top and bottom of the paper to hide the names before passing it to her. One closer look was enough. Her own handwriting was right there. Which meant... Ladybug took a deep breath and stood up. "Give me a moment," she told him, taking a hold of her yo-yo. "This is totally a justified use of my abilities, Tikki," she whispered and then she tossed her yo-yo up, calling for a Lucky Charm.

It was red with black spots, big, thick and fluffy. It was perfect.

Ladybug took a deep breath and then she buried her face into the summoned pillow, letting out a long scream.

"My Lady?" Chat's worried murmur - Adrien's worried murmur - only prompted another muffled shriek. A week. She had spent a whole week torn about her feelings for two boys only to find out they were one and the same. How was this her life again?

She lifted her head when she felt a tentative hand on her shoulder. Of course, Adrien was very big on touching other people's shoulders and so was Chat. How had she failed to realize their many, many similarities? How?

"My Lady?" Chat asked again. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Everything. I don't know anymore, Adrien." She saw him go rigid at her use of his name. "Of course I know who you are, I wrote that letter and gave it to you," she snapped, annoyed with herself and him both, unfair as it was.

"Marinette?" he asked and she nodded.

"This was not how I imagined this to go," she huffed out.

"And how did you imagine this to go?" Chat asked. Ladybug turned to face him fully.

"We would talk for a while, you would flirt with me and I would ask you out. A simple plan. But then you had to go and be the same boy I preemptively rejected which means that I fell in love with you twice and I still don't know how you feel about me, either me and this is such a huge mess and it's all because of that stupid literature homework and parallels that were all wrong anyway because Roy and Gilbert are the same person and I'm never ever taking love advice from a book again. Ever," she finished her rant and took a deep breath, glad to have that out of her system. Chat was staring at her and she suddenly felt nervous.

"Twice?" he finally croaked out and she nodded bashfully. "Twice," he repeated.

"Yes, twice," she confirmed.

He grinned suddenly before he took her hand and raised it to his lips.

"My Lady," he purred. "When you scared me out of one of my nine lives earlier today, I was thinking about a certain dilemma. A wonderful girl confessed to me and rejected me right after for another. While I wanted nothing more than to respect her wishes, a part of me couldn't help but hope the other man would be a fool and fail to realize what a goddess had bestowed her affection on him." Ladybug felt her entire face go red. "You see, until that moment, I had been the fool. I fell in love with two girls without realizing it. What do you think I should do, My Lady?"

She cleared her throat, the hope in his face not helping her blush any, nor was the fact that he was still holding her hand.

"I think you should be honest with them both."

"Is that so?"

"Mhm."

"I see." He took her other hand, too. "My Lady." He kissed one hand. "Marinette." He kissed the other. "Would you do me the great honour of going on a date with me?"

Feeling bold and giddy from how things were working out, Ladybug had a fantastic idea. After all, it wasn't fair she was the only one blushing. She stood up on her tiptoes, putting her hands on Chat's shoulders.

"Kitty." She kissed his right cheek. "Adrien." She kissed the other, enjoying the sight of the blush spreading across his face. "Yes, I would."

* * *

Years later, the confession letter would still be one of Marinette's and Adrien's most favoured mementos.


End file.
